New Tech Continues Partnership with Jewish Federation

Students at New Tech Academy at Wayne High School are working again with the Jewish Federation of Fort Wayne as the Jewish community celebrates Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day on April 23-24.

In preparation, students have researched individuals who suffered in the Holocaust, as well as examined how the Holocaust is memorialized around the world. Students produced artwork and created exhibit board based on what they learned.

On Monday, April 24, Stephen Feinberg, leading Holocaust educator and special assistant for education programs in the National Institute for Holocaust Education at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, will visit New Tech, 9100 Winchester Road, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Student work will be on display at the Yom Hashoah Service at 7 p.m. at the Rifkin Campus, 5200 Old Mill Road.

On Sunday, April 30, students are invited to attend the Grand Opening of the Jewish Federation’s Madge Rothschild Resource Center, which features keynote speaker author David Laskin, who will speak on “One Family, Three Journeys: How One Family Embodied the Sweep of 20th Century Jewish History.”

Next month, on May 21, students will take a trip to the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie, Ill. The field trip has been funded by anonymous members of the Jewish community.“Working with the Jewish Federation is one of the highlights of the school year,” New Tech Social Studies Teacher Jeff Roberts said. “Students don’t just learn the facts of what happened during the Holocaust, they begin to understand atrocities that took place decades ago in a personal way by reading about and hearing from those directly connected to the Holocaust. These studies allows the students to see the connection between many of the causes and effects of the Holocaust to issues of today.”

With nearly 30,000 students, Fort Wayne Community Schools is one of the largest school districts in Indiana. FWCS proudly allows families to choose any of its 50 schools through its successful school-choice program creating diversity in each school, including some with more than 75 languages spoken. FWCS offers seven magnet schools focusing on areas such as science and math, communication, fine arts or Montessori at the elementary and middle school level. In high school, students can choose from the prestigious International Baccalaureate program, Project Lead the Way or New Tech Academy as well as other rigorous academic and specialty training programs.